In recent years the quantity of information transmitted from examination systems and analyzing systems to host computers has increased in conjunction with the increasing complexity of the examination systems and analyzing systems. In this situation, the data are concentrated in the path from the examination system or analyzing system to the host computer, such that data processing is slowed between the examination system or analyzing system and the host computer. This circumstance inconveniently reduces the processing capacity of the examination system and analyzing system.
Various art has been disclosed for suppressing the reduction of the processing capacity of conventional examination systems and analyzing systems (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384).
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384 discloses a clinical examination system wherein a carrier line unit performs structural control data communications and a processing unit performs functional control data communications and specimen data communications. In the clinical examination system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384, data related to the processing unit are transmitted from the processing unit to a host computer, and data related to the carrier line unit are transmitted from the carrier line unit to the host computer, such that transmission to the host computer is distributed through two paths. In this way, the reduction of the processing capability of the clinical examination system is suppressed by suppressing the concentration of data in the transmission path to the host computer compared to when a single path is used to perform transmissions to a host computer.
The clinical examination system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384, however, inconveniently concentrates data in a path from the processing unit or carrier line unit to a host computer when the processing unit or carrier line unit is a unit for transmitting large quantities of data. Therefore, for example, when data are concentrated in the path from the carrier line unit to a host computer and an inquiry is issued from the carrier line unit to the host computer, either no response or a delayed response is sent from the host computer, such that there is an inconvenient delay in the processing performed by the clinical examination system. In this case, a problem arises inasmuch as it is difficult to suppress a reduction in the capability of the clinical examination system even when using the clinical examination system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384.
Furthermore, in the clinical examination system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384, the host computer processes large amounts of data since all information from the processing unit and the carrier line unit are ultimately transmitted to the host computer. In this case as in the previous case the processing of the clinical examination system is delayed when an inquiry or the like is issued from the carrier line unit to the host computer, and as a result it is difficult to suppress a reduction in the capability of the clinical examination system.
Furthermore, in the clinical examination system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-237384, since all information from the carrier line unit or processing unit are transmitted to the host computer, even data that are not necessarily required by the user are disadvantageously transmitted to the host computer.